Welding rod



Patented Nov. 26, 1935 I mammal an t J ohn-B. Austin, Cleveland, ohio'fassignor to' 'Un'a' -Welding,= Inc.;='East Cleveland, O'h' tion of Delaware This invention relates to the ar't 'of welding,

and particularly to ferrous'welding rods or electrodes for use in such artf j, f r 1,

'In ferrous welding practice, such'as electric arc welding, it has long been" customary to employ low carbon steel 'weldingrods' or electrodesl As equivalent to and synonymoujs 'with'low carbon steel may for the present purpose be con sidered all low carbon iferrou's material such as Armco iron, or wrought iron. It is'idesirablethat' the weld metal produced from such welding rods be of high quality to withstand thefstreSses re ceived by such'welds in service Inseam welded rail joints,iwhere low or mediumicarbon steel fish plates are welded to high carbon steel" rails the weld metal employed "must be of very high quality to withstand the severe shrinkage and other stresses such as expansiomari'd contraction received in service. It may bef'noted that inf welding rail joints, the rails and fishplats are rigidly positioned and may practically never reg, lieve any of the shrinkage or'fweldingstresses as" by change of position. It' is thus/evident] a i the weld metal must be "sorb all such welding stresses. seen that a welding rod which satisfactory "and i give 1 welds strength when used to join am free to move and thus-'tosubs'tantially r a I shrinkage'and welding stresses rr'iight' 'o't e isfactory' for useiimwelding' rigidly members, as in the case ofra'il joints. 'Itis particularly important that the weld rail joints be ductile and resistant to repeated impact stresses as 'well as homogeneous,"

porous and uniform in quality f'fIjhis b tion has been substantiated bymany t s laboratory and field.v It has'j'frequently If e 40 joints from" ordinary low" ,carbon,

rods has been of'inferiorguality, b cases, brittle, porous, coa'rs grain taining considerable amounts oi purities, such asioxidesfandnitrides carbon steel rods haveealso frequent l low weldab' ity, by which isyrneant that ilar material on the surface of th ferr o a terial' to be welded; "{f a It willbe understood that inithis sp No nr w ne, Ainn afi au as 12;; .i'zeiis ai No."l9,834.- "Renewed Felon aryl 1931 f :9 claims; (01,21,943),

ductile enough to 'It'will thus be jb found, however, that weldjmet al pr ucediri rail 1 c has, in many cases been difficult to cause-the; metal; from such welding rod tounite integrally to the;

metal'or metals being welded, -.particularly when:-.

there has been present1=alayer of "oxide" or sirrrec1 ca ff tion and claims I intend the termselectrode and weldi'nligfred g in their Inean' ult'egral union. 10

we. is i f w e 1 ada ted f o us n: tes to rails in forming further obj ect *of- 'thi's m'vent1on to; provide 1 a welding rod for use in welded rail joints, said.

rodj forming weld metal of very high'quality, par! ,20 tic ul arly with reference to "ductility and 'resist-. anee to repeated'impactand'other forces;

Other" objects of the inventionwill be apparntvrfroma hezdescriptionhof itihereinafter givenn d thatuweldzmetal of; greatly, ind-25 proved propertie, including: ductility andrresist-i ance gto epeated, impact, solidity; ahomogeneitm; cleanliness,- ;and,'reedom s f romi-inclusions maybe formed by asscciatingawith axwelding-rod such as; of-;1 and. c.v en ine a entsm uch titanium an vanadium; Such agentg may be,-;associat ed t with said welding ;;ro d orwelectrodesby alloying with saidelectrodes, coabingethereon or in any; other suitable manne lThus gtitanium andl vanadium 1 3 mightme -a11oyed:with; the steelxinigthe :manufac-; a, ture-,t h eregf The itaniumiand vanadium might. ciated .1 h the steel ;ini-.;the:,form lot-.1 coated; on; ;such., electrodes.;.,

otner p ie enti a coatin ion. said; the o muofhthelpure metal me-use tif 'wmclif" axidr'efra'ctoriesby trode and the w of reatly carbongsteel, deoxidizingl: demtrogenizingufle obtained of increased solidity and finer grain structure. I have further found that improved flowing properties and-in general better results have obtained by associating with said metallic.

deoxidizers refractory and clay material, ,such' as for example, the material known in the trade as alundum, and clay. I have found it convenient to employ titanium andvanadium inthe form of carbon-freeferro-alloys, though other forms of the metals may be "employedto equal advantage. Preferably the deoxidizers and refractory and clay materials, which may for con- Venience be termed weld-modifying ingredients, arev of fine mesh, thus preferably of,200 mesh or finer. I have found it convenient to associate the weld-modifying ingredients with the welding rod by coatingthem thereon by means of a suitable binder, such as shellac. Thus a suspension of the weld-modifying in'gredients may. be,

made in shellac and said suspension'appliedto the welding rod by dipping the rod in said suspension or by painting said suspension on the.

rodby means of a brush, or by othermeans. I have found the most "satisfactory welding results to be obtained whensuificient suspension be applied to the rod so' that with respect to the weight of the rod itself, the weld-modifying ingredients.

are present in approximately thefollowing proportions: i

7 Percent Titanium 0.06 Vanadium 0.14 Alundum Clay Excellent results may still be obtained by varying somewhat from the above proportions but it-is preferable that the titanium never be over 7 .20% in amount, that the vanadiumgnever be present in amountover 0.25%, and that the sum of the titanium and vanadium never be over 0.29%. In certain cases the alundum and clay may be omitted, as for example, where the titanium and vanadium are associated with the welding rod during the manufacture thereof.

'While good welding-results'maybe obtained by associating weld-modifying ingredients of the" above-described nature 'with' any i low'carbon steel rod of'high quality, I prefer to employ in connection with the above weld-modifying ingredients asteel rod of'approximately the following composition:

Preferably the carbon content of thesteeldoes not exceed 0.2%. My ,7 9;

I have carried out numerous tests. demonstating the superiority of welds made withmy improved welding rodas compared with welds, made with bare low carbon steel w'eldingrod. Thus I have obtained fiat test bars by machiningmetal pieces formed entirely of deposited arc-fused of welding rod were used in both cases.

metal. Such test bars made from my improved weldingrod showed slightly more than twice the ductilityin bending as compared with test bars formed from bare low carbon steel welding rod.

The superiority in resistance to repeated im- 5 pact of weld metal formed from my improved welding-rod has also been demonstrated. Thus, small .vertical steel. plates were welded to horizontal plates with my improved welding rod and with bare low carbon welding rod. Equal masses 10 The vertical plates were then struck by a pivotally mounted hammer, the length of 'the hammer travel being eighteen inches. Over twice as many blows wererequired to fracture the weld made 15 from my improved welding rod as was required to break the weld made with the usual low carbon steel welding rod.

It has furthermore been demonstrated by actual tests in a repeated impact testing machine so that rail joints welded with my improved rod have been much more resistant to repeated impact stresses than joints welded similarly, but with an ordinary bare low carbon steel rod. It i will thus be seen that the use of my improved g5 welding rod gives distinct advantages'when used to integrally unite fish plates to rails in forming weldedr'ail joints. V

'I'he'advantages of my. improved welding rod are very'obvious when weldingv steel having an lo appreciable amount of rust oroxide thereon. The weld-modifying ingredientsassociated with my welding rod dissolvereduce, or remove. such surface contaminants, thereby providing greater ease of welding to such oxide-coated surfaces, 35 and thereby greatly increasing the weldability, of the welding'rod. The presence of the weldmodifying ingredients not only reduces or eliminates oxides and otherfdeleterious material in terfering with the obtaining of integral union 4 of the weld metal to metallic surfaces, but further cleanses andscavengesthe weld metal itself, purging said weld metal of deleteriousim} purities, such as oxides and nitrides, thus rendering the weld metal solid, homogeneous and 4s metallurgically clean in structure.

It will be seen that I haveprovided a welding rod having greatly improved flowingproperties.

It will further be seenthat weld metal produced from welding rod having associated therewithm the weld-modifying ingredients described hereinabove is greatly superior in qualitywith respect to solidity, mechanical homogeneity, and freedom from metallic and non-metalliczimpurities.

It will also be seen that withmy improved 55 welding rod welds may be obtained of greatly superior mechanical quality, as for example, ductility, and resistance to repeated impact.

It "will further benoted that in welding fish plates to rails to formwelded rail joints, the .use 60 of my improved welding rod provides weld metal of great solidity, non-porosity, ductility, and resistance to repeated impact, thereby greatly increasing the life of such rail joints in service. i

To those skilled in the art many modifications 65 of and widely differingembodiments and applica- .tions of my invention will suggest themselves,

without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. My disclosures and thefdescriptions herein are purely illustrative and are not intend-, .70

ed to be in any sense limiting.

0.14% vanadium.

2. A low carbon steel welding rod having asso ciated therewith about 0.06% titanium, about 0.14% vanadium, and about 0.3%. fiuxing material.

3. A steel welding rod or electrode containing not over about 0.2% carbon, having coated thereon about 0.06% titanium, about 0.14%vanadium, and about 0.3% alundum and clay, said coating being attached to said welding rod or electrode by means of a suitable binder.

4. A-low carbon steel welding rod having associated therewith titanium in effective amount appreciably greater than a trace but not exceedin about 0.2%, and vanadium in effective amount appreciably greater than a trace but not exceeding about 0.25%, the total amount of titanium and vanadium ranging from 0.16% to 0.29%.

5. A low carbon steel welding rod having a coating thereon comprising titanium in efi'ective amount appreciably greater-than a trace but not exceeding about 0.2%, and vanadium in effective amount appreciably greater than a trace but not exceeding about 0.25%, the total amount of titanium and vanadium ranging from 0.16% to 0.29%.

6. A low carbon steel welding rod having a coating thereon comprising titanium in eflective amount appreciably greater than a trace but not exceeding about 0.2%, vanadium in efl'ective amount appreciably greater than a trace but not exceeding about 0.25%, and fluxing material,

the total amount of titanium and vanadium rang-j ing from 0.16% to 0.29%.

7. A low carbon steel welding rod having a coating thereon comprising titanium in effective amount appreciably greater than a trace but not exceeding about 0.2%, vanadium in effective amount appreciably greaterthan a trace but not exceeding about 0.25%, the total amount of titanium and vanadium ranging from 0.16% to 0.29%, and refractory fluxing material in effective amount appreciably greater than a trace but not exceeding about 0.3% in amount.

8. A weld rod containing from .05 to 25% carbon, from .02 to 20% vanadium, and from .04 to 20% of a vanadium protecting agent which will preferentially combine with the gases present in the atmosphere and from the welding torch more readily than vanadium.

9.'A weld rod containing from .05 to .25% carbon, from .02 to 20% vanadium, and from .04 to 20% titanium. JOHN B. AUSTIN. 

